Injection molding numbers grow in North America

With this week's publication of the smaller North American injection molders ranking, we can add another $9.2 billion to the combined sales total for 2022. That brings the sales total for the entire ranking of 593 companies up to $40.6 billion. That is up 5 percent over the previous year. As reported last week, the industry continues to grow.

Passing on higher costs to customers is the biggest factor in the gains that we see, but that doesn't account for all of it. U.S. and Mexico saw automotive production growth, according to reports from our sister publication Automotive News. The medical end market continues to grow and innovate. Traditional packaging is getting a bit of a smackdown, but there is no slowing trend in production.

Only five companies from last year's list have quietly closed — much fewer than previous booming years have seen.

Less than a quarter of the total related sales are from firms with less than $79 million. These smaller-in-sales-but-much-bigger-in-numbers companies represent 83 percent of the total count.

With nearly 700 plant locations, this week's list of molders is the largest grouping of processors we cover in our annual ranking issues. So, which of them take the top spots this week?

Biggest little molders

• Custom molder Rosti of Germantown, Wis.

• Food packaging and cutlery molder D&W Fine Pack LLC of Wood Dale Ill.

• Housewares maker Newell Brands Inc. of Atlanta.

• Recyclable packaging handles maker Oregon Precision Industries Inc. dba PakTech of Eugene, Ore.

• Custom molder Springboard Manufacturing of South Bend, Ind.

• Custom and contract molder Nissha Eimo Technologies Inc. of Vicksburg, Mich.

• Custom and automotive molder PSI Molded Plastics of Wolfeboro, N.H.

• Custom molder Thomson Plastics Inc. of Thomson, Ga.

• Custom, automotive and containers maker Koller Enterprises Inc. of Fenton, Mo.

• Custom molder Sussex IM Inc. of Sussex, Wis.

For all 570 molders reporting locations, we've mapped their 1,256 manufacturing plants.

Our full ranking, by the numbers:

• Average sales per company for the top 100: $313.5 million.

• Average sales per company for smaller firms: $18.7 million.

• 48 are publicly held.

• 41 percent of the plant locations are in the U.S. Midwest.

• Roughly 27 percent reflect sales gains.

• 19 acquisitions are noted.

• 12 percent of responding firms say they've never asked their employees how important child care benefits are to them.

We've added 20 molders to our list this year. Some turned in a survey form, and some listings were identified using our own articles.

For smaller companies that do not share their details with anyone, we do our best to place them with their peers. Estimates fall at the closest plateau, This results in quite a few listings at each milestone. For example, 24 are listed at $10 million, 21 at $3 million, 16 at $5 and 16 at $15 million. Unless there is a substantial change reported, they'll keep their relative standing.

• Barton Tool Inc. of Falconer, N.Y.

• Bridgville Plastics Inc. of Stevensville, Mich.

• Craftech Industries Inc. of Hudson, N.Y.

• Hardcoat Technologies LLC of Knoxville, Tenn.

• Houston Plastic Products Corp. of Houston.

• Keter North America of Anderson, Ind.

• Kincaid Plastics Inc. of Brooksville, Fla.

• Legacy Plastics Inc. of Rockford, Ill.

• Manar Inc. of Edinburgh, Ind.

• Mars Plastics of Providence, R.I.

• Natech Plastics Inc. of Ronkonkoma, N.Y.

• Oregon Precision Industries Inc. dba PakTech of Eugene, Ore.

• PolyFlex Products Inc. of Farmington Hills, Mich.

• Preformed Line Products Co. of Cleveland.

• Radius Packaging Inc. of New Berlin, Wis.

• Retal PA LLC of Donora, Pa.

• Seljan Co. Inc. of Lake Mills, Wis.

• Stanford Manufacturing of Clemmons, N.C.

• Texas Injection Molding LLC of Houston.

• WP Manufacturing Inc. of Longmont, Colo.

Creative Liquid Coatings Inc. of Kendallville, Ind. moved up 157 spaces to rank at No. 49.

Poly-Tech Plastic Molding Inc. of Prairie Grove, Ark. moved up 120 spaces to rank at No. 295.

N-K Manufacturing Technologies LLC of Grand Rapids, Mich. moved up 111 spaces to rank at No. 275.

Philpott Rubber and Plastics of Aurora, Ohio moved up 90 spaces to rank at No. 258.

AdvancTek of New Albany, Ohio moved up 86 spaces to rank at No. 90.

Seaway Plastics Engineering LLC of Port Richey, Fla. moved up 84 spaces to rank at No. 112.

Covington Plastic Molding Inc. of New Oxford, Pa. moved up 69 spaces to rank at No. 494.

CH3 Solutions LLC of Dalton, Ga. moved up 66 spaces to rank at No. 355.

Teamvantage Molding LLC of Forest Lake, Minn. moved up 65 spaces to rank at No. 77.

Rebling Plastics of Warrington, Pa. moved up 59 spaces to rank at No. 362.

SR Injection Molding Inc. of Harrison Township, Mich. moved up 52 spaces to rank at No. 470.

KB Components of Oldcastle, Ontario moved up 51 spaces to rank at No. 74.

DaMar Plastics Inc. of El Cajon, Calif. moved up 50 spaces to rank at No. 434.

Engineering Industries Inc. of Verona, Wis., moved up 43 spaces to rank at No. 223.

Paid subscribers can view our rankings online.

If you work for a company that is missing from the ranking, then we would like to include you next time. Just send a note to me at [email protected] or mail your information to Plastics News, P.O. Box 790, Tallmadge, Ohio 44278.

Hollee Keller is Plastics News' editorial research coordinator and author of the All Things Data blog. Follow her on Twitter @holleekeller.

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